For Seniors: How to Navigate and Select Text in PowerPoint

You may find that using keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint is more convenient than using the scroll bar. The function of some PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts depends on whether you’re editing in a text box or navigating in a presentation.

Navigating in PowerPoint

The following table lists the most common navigation shortcuts in PowerPoint.

Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts

Press This

PowerPoint Text Box

PowerPoint Presentation

Up arrow

One line up

Previous slide

Down arrow

One line down

Previous slide

Right arrow

One character to the right

Next slide

Left arrow

One character to the left

Previous slide

Tab

Next tab stop

Next placeholder box on this slide

Shift+Tab

Next tab stop

Previous placeholder box on this slide

Ctrl+arrow key

Right arrow or left arrow: one word to the left or right; up
arrow: one paragraph up or down

Right arrow or left arrow: one word to the left or right;up
arrow: one paragraph up or down

Home

Beginning of the line

First slide

End

End of the line

Last slide

Ctrl+Home

Beginning of the text box

First slide

Ctrl+End

End of the text box

Last slide

Page Down

Next slide

Next slide

Ctrl+Page Down

Next slide

Next slide

Ctrl+Page Up

Previous slide

Previous slide

Selecting text in PowerPoint

To select text in PowerPoint, you can either

Drag the mouse pointer across it (holding down the left mouse button)

Click where you want to start and then hold down Shift as you press the arrow keys to extend the selection.

When text is selected, its background changes color. The color depends on the color scheme in use. With the default color scheme, the background color is light blue.